Winslet was up for filming with the cougar but her spouse Ned Rocknroll -who she married in December 2012 - and 20th Century Fox bosses refused to let her near the animal.

In an interview with the Daily Mail newspaper, Winslet said: "They never let the lion into the plane while I was in there. I was up for it. But the studio was like, 'No! It is not going to happen.' "

Revealing how Ned thought it was a joke when he saw signs warning the cast and crew that there would be "cougars on set", she added: "It had a warning which read 'cougars on set today. Nobody wear red. No loud noises. No food or drink on set.' He thought it was a joke. And I said, 'It's not a joke.' He did not want those lions close to me at all."

'The Mountain Between Us' is an epic love story from director Hany Abu-Assad and based on the novel of the same name by Charles Martin, about two strangers Alex Martin (Winslet) and Dr. Ben Bass (Elba) who survive when their plane crashes into a mountain side.

The shoot required the actors to be in freezing temperatures up in the mountains in Pemberton, British Columbia, Canada, and although Winslet did not get to realise her dream to film with a mountain lion she did get to shoot some of her own stunts.

For one sequence, the actress took a plunge into icy water after claiming the stuntwoman didn't look like her.

Plunging into water is something Winslet is familiar with after the 1997 box office sensation 'Titanic'.

She said: "The problem was that she didn't look anything like me.

"And it would have meant that Hany wouldn't have been able to get a close up of her face. They had a wet and dry suit for her; but nothing for me.

"This is what I do - I'm the water girl. We did have lots of quite scary things to do. Our coldest day was minus 38 Celsius. You got out of the car and immediately the insides of your nostrils would freeze."